There is nothing odd about people getting heated when it comes to conservations about politics. The Hollywood Reporter talked about a study by Morning Consult in the hopes of discussing news anchors and their trustworthiness. The agency spoke to 2,200 American adults to ask how much they trust reporters. The results seem to say that cable networks are generally seen as less reliable than their broadcast counterparts. Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, we bet that you are going to be shocked by some faces on this list!
The News Anchors That Americans Trust The Least
Stephanie Ruhle – MSNBC
We are going, beginning with the most trusted anchors. Stephanie Ruhle had the best numbers among the least-trusted anchors. There was only 17 percent of respondents who claimed that they trust her “a lot.” She is now the senior business correspondent of NBC News. The NBC Live anchor used to be an editor-at-large at Bloomberg News. She made it big when she broke the story on the London Whale.
Stephanie Ruhle – MSNBC
Katy Tur – NBC
The truth is that Stephanie Ruhle was in a tie with Katy Tur, who also incurred a 17 percent trust rating among the thousands of respondents. The MSNBC Live anchor appeared in Meet the Press, Early Today, Today, and NBC Nightly News. Did you know that she used to be a storm chaser for The Weather Channel as well? She is fluent in Spanish and is a fan of Phish. In fact, she has a habit of incorporating their songs into her coverage.
Katy Tur – NBC
Tucker Carlson – Fox News
As you might have guessed, Tucker Carlson is on the list because people doubt his trustworthiness. When the survey was conducted, 21 percent of the respondents claim to distrust him completely. Still, the number was offset because he holds a favorability rating of 31 percent among the respondents who were Republicans. Only 9 percent said that he does not “lean” anywhere on the political spectrum.
Tucker Carlson – Fox News
Don Lemon – CNN
The study only shows that CNN viewers do not have the most favorable opinion of Don Lemon. As a matter of fact, a quarter of the respondents do not trust him at all. Even so, he has three regional Emmys and an Edward R. Murrow Award to his name. Fox News hired him after he graduated.
Don Lemon – CNN
Martha McCallum – Fox News
You may be familiar with Martha McCallum for her hosting stint at The Story with Martha McCallum. She has entertained guests like Laura Bush, Barack Obama, John McCain, and Chris Christie. Not only that, but she was also an anchor and business news correspondent at the Wall Street Journal in the ‘90s. Despite all of this, only 17 percent claimed to trust her a lot.
Martha McCallum – Fox News
Bret Baier – Fox News
Now the chief political correspondent at Fox News, there was a time when Bret Baier served as the chief White House and Pentagon correspondent. He started his career as a reporter at a local Rockford station in Illinois. After that, he worked at WRAL-TV until Fox News finally hired him as the Atlanta bureau chief. Over the course of the study, he achieved a trust rating of 17 percent.
Bret Baier – Fox News
Rachel Maddow – MSNBC
There is a good chance that you know who Rachel Maddow is. After all, she is one of the most famous people in the industry at the moment. This is not always a good thing, however. In fact, only 26 percent of the participants said they do not trust her at all. The Rachel Maddow Show host hails from the Bay Area and has degrees from both Oxford and Stanford. In 2012, she published a book called “Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power,” which looks at US military policy worldwide.
Rachel Maddow – MSNBC
Sean Hannity – Fox News
This Fox News reporter, much like his colleague Tucker Carlson, is trusted by conservative viewers. You can easily see this because 32 percent of conservative respondents claim that they have “a lot” of trust in Sean Hannity. Overall, 30 percent of the respondents said that they did not trust him at all. Like Carlson, he is quite partisan as well. Considering the turnout, we are sure that this is indeed the case.
Sean Hannity – Fox News
Carson Daly – NBC
This household name might be famous, but this does not necessarily mean that he is trustworthy. In fact, only 16 percent of respondents expressed trust in him. The truth is that the journalist has quite a long resume. He has previously hosted New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly from Times Square and Macy’s Fourth of July. He also appeared in Total Request Live! in the past.
Carson Daly – NBC
John King – CNN
The survey shows us that John King has earned a trust rating of 16 percent. The CNN chief national correspondent is based in the capital and serves as the anchor of Inside Politics. He has previously worked on John King, USA, and State of the Union as well. In 1985, he launched his journalism career by working at the Associated Press and earning the chief political correspondent position. You might be familiar with him for his acclaimed Gulf War coverage.
John King – CNN
Erin Burnett – CNN
Most people who know Erin Burnett are familiar with her show, Erin Burnett OutFront. The news program shows her in different parts of the world. She has reported from Israel, Mali, Afghanistan, China, Rwanda, and the United Arab Emirates. The focus of her career has mostly been the Middle East. During her time at NBC, she was called “The International Superstar” by Joe Scarborough. In the survey, she got a trust rating of 16 percent.
Erin Burnett – CNN
Brooke Baldwin – CNN
In 2008, the host of CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin started his tenure at CNN. Brooke Baldwin was once based in the CNN world HQ in Atlanta until 2014. After this, she moved to New York City to cover bigger stories. She double majored in Spanish and journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She now co-hosts New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper.
Brooke Baldwin – CNN
Bianna Golodryga – CNN
Right now, Bianna Golodryga serves as the CNN senior global affairs analyst. There was a time when she worked at Yahoo! News, ABC, and CBS. In the beginning, she had been thinking of launching a career in finance and earned her trading license. However, she ended up changing paths and going into journalism when the market began to go downhill. Only 15 percent of the respondents of the survey claimed to trust her a lot.
Bianna Golodryga – CNN
Mika Brzezinski – MSNBC
Based on the survey, Mika Brzezinski is not seen as the most trustworthy news anchor either. As a matter of fact, 23 percent of respondents claimed not to trust her at all. She co-hosts Morning Joe on MSNBC at the moment. We like the fact that she is a gender equality activist. She has published three books in the past, two of which are about her career as a journalist. Did you know that she is the daughter of Zbigniew Brzezinski, a Polish-American diplomat, and political scientist?
Mika Brzezinski – MSNBC
Ari Melber – MSNBC
The host of The Beat with Ari Melber only earned an approval rate of 14 percent in the survey. We know that this is hard to believe because his show is pretty popular. He enjoys an average monthly viewership of 13 million on YouTube, which is the highest among all the shows on MSNBC. A New York Times writer once called him “an outstanding interviewer, among the best on television.”
Ari Melber – MSNBC
Chris Cuomo – CNN
Does this name sound familiar to you? If you said yes, it probably has to do with the “Fredo” incident from a couple of years ago. In the meantime, let us look past it for now. He is best known for his work on Cuomo Prime Time on CNN. He has also served as the chief law and justice correspondent on ABC News and the co-host of 20/20. Twenty percent of the respondents do not trust him.
Chris Cuomo CNN
Bill Hemmer – Fox News
This guy is the one and only host of Bill Hemmer Reports on Fox News. The survey revealed that only 14 percent of respondents trust Bill Hemmer a lot. Before his tenure at Fox News in August 2005, he was at CNN for a decade from 1995 to 2005. Back then, he hosted American Morning and CNN Tonight.
Bill Hemmer – Fox News
Chris Matthews – MSNBC
Only 13 percent of the respondents said they trust Chris Matthews, who became famous as Hardball’s host with Chris Matthews. In March 2020, he shared that he was going to retire. This came after accusations of inappropriate comments toward a guest on his show a couple of years ago. In the last episode of his show, he said, “The younger generation’s out there ready to take the reins. We see them in politics, in media, in fighting for their causes. They’re improving the workplace.”
Chris Matthews – MSNBC
Shepard Smith – Fox News
While Shephard Smith is now working for NBC and CNBC, he spent 23 years at Fox News. No one is surprised to hear that he has gotten high ratings in the conservative crowd. The support, however, is offset when you consider those who do not identify as such. His trust rating then goes down from 31 percent to 13 percent. He is also known for hosting Shepard Smith Reporting.
Shepard Smith – Fox News
Juan Williams – Fox News
Indeed, you won’t find many Democrats on the lineup of Fox News. Juan Williams is among the few who are. He often offers counterpoints to his more conservative colleagues. This might have something to do with his trust rating of 12 percent among the respondents. From his resume, you will learn that he has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the New York Times.
Juan Williams – Fox News
Brian Kilmeade – Fox News
This TV personality also works at Fox News. In the survey, Brian Kilmeade earned a trust rating of 12 percent. He co-hosts The Brian Kilmeade Show and Fox & Friends. In the past, he has written fiction and non-fiction books. He previously came under fire for some of his controversial remarks, which might have something to do with his low trust rating.
Brian Kilmeade – Fox News
Steve Doocy – Fox News
This man started to work at the Fox News channel in 1996. Two years later, he was on the morning show Fox & Friends. While the show earned high ratings, Steve Doocy did not. As a matter of fact, he only got good responses from 12 percent of the survey participants. For four years, he served as the official correspondent of Times Square for Dick Clarke’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve on ABC.
Steve Doocy – Fox News
Chris Hayes – MSNBC
The All in with Chris Hayes host is progressive. He has seen success in broadcasting, but he has also written books and served as the host of the Why Is This Happening? The Podcast and the editor of The Nation magazine. While he is a competent fellow, 18 percent of the survey participants said they do not trust him. He is the third least-trusted anchor out there!
Chris Hayes – MSNBC
Lawrence O’Donnell – MSNBC
You will find Lawrence O’Donnell in the second spot of the survey. Only 11 percent of the respondents trusted him. He is currently working as the host of The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell. What else has he been up to? Well, he is also an actor. He has not only starred in TV shows, but he has also written screenplays. He worked on The West Wing and Big Love in the past.
Lawrence O’Donnell – MSNBC
Joe Scarborough – NBC
The top spot goes to none other than Joe Scarborough. He earned a trust rating of only eight percent, which is incredibly low. He currently co-hosts Morning Joe, a position that he shares with his wife, Mika Brzezinski. He used to be a lawyer and politician before he joined the MSNBC team. Under the Republican party, he was in the House of Representatives for the first district of Florida.
Joe Scarborough – NBC
Bill Maher – HBO
This TV personality seems to enjoy challenging the status quo. In 1999, Bill Maher appeared in an interview with Chris Cuomo on CNN. When he was asked if the media could “policing” the elections, he replied, “No, I don’t trust the media.” It must not be easy to deal with the issues that come with being so against the tide. However, someone has to do the job!
Bill Maher – HBO
Diane Sawyer – ABC News
This TV personality got plenty of criticism after she displayed strange behavior in front of the camera. We talked about the time that she behaved lethargic, slurred, and spoke slowly in the air. As you can see, there is a reason they thought she was not sober when she covered the election night in 2012.
Diane Sawyer – ABC News
Robin Roberts – ABC’s “Good Morning America”
Sadly, the trust rating of Robin Roberts went down after her interview with actor Jussie Smollett. This took place after the Hollywood star falsified a police report about a racist and homophobic attack. It was really about her association with the story more than anything else. We cannot help but wonder if she now regrets working on the story.
Robin Roberts – ABC’s “Good Morning America”
George Stephanopoulos – ABC News
There was a time when George Stephanopoulos was an advisor to the Clintons. He received a lot of criticism from the White House because he opposed their narrative. After the incident, his viewers did not feel like he deserved their trust. If you ask us, it sounds like this was a given.
George Stephanopoulos – ABC News
Scott Pelley – CBS
How unfortunate is it that Scott Pelley lost the trust of his peers instead of his viewers? “I lost my job at the Evening News because I wouldn’t stop complaining to management about the hostile work environment,” he said. According to him, he went up to the president of the news division and told David Rhodes “that this hostile work environment couldn’t go on, for women and men. And he told me if I kept agitating about that internally, then I’d lose my job”.
Scott Pelley – CBS